Airplane control mechanism



4, 1930. M. MORRILL AIRPLANE CONTROL MECHANISM Filed Feb. 15 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 4, 1930.

M. MORRILL AIRPLANE CONTROL MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 15 192s ghas forits objects: i First: To deviseiairplane controls of a-type Patented Mar 4, 1930 :jfUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE i oMonRinL, oF PRovo, UTAH; JESSE J. MORRILL AnMImsrnAron or SAID MILO 1 MORRILL,DEGEASED AIR-PLANE oo v'rnor; MECHANISM I .Application filed February 15, 1926. Serial m. 88,349.

, 1 This invention relates to a new and novel controlling device for airplanes." T V Great strides in aerial navigation have been made in the lastnfew years, and the machines now in use aresafe as compared with those of few years ago, yet even the best 'leaveimuch tobe desired as regards Stability and response toinanipulation of controls in certain situations. a

'10 "There are serious objections to the use of ailerons to control an airplane. I i j V Itwas found by early experimenters in this art that when a turn was attempted by warp- 'ing the wing that although the machine lsbanked inthe desired direction the drag on the warped wing was so strong that the machine turned in the direction opposite to that which it was'ban'ked for, and consequently it was necessary to usea rudder to overcome the drag thus produced- Aileronsare merely an adaptation of the principles. of warping the wingwhich perm ts of a more rigid wing construction. It is to avoid this unnecessary strainon the mechanism,- difliculty. of turning and.inefficient consumption of power, that I have devised the subjectof this application.

Vith the, aboveiconsideration's and others 1111111116., I have made my invention, Wl'llCh that shall obviate the necessity of a rudder and ailerons. r v a 'Second: To devise; controls which may be herent stability.

showing the control mechaportion of the con varied to provide different degrees of in- Third: To make a device of the type set I forth above which shall be readily applicable, 1 to almost any of the existing types ofair- Fig. 4 is a View showing the relation among various parts of the control mechanism; Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view to show the relation of the control wire to the'other parts of the device.

The numeral 1 indicates what Iterm my movable tip, which is of practically the same construction as that ordinarily employed in the planes. 7

These tips are of small area as compared with the planes and are preferablyso mounted that two sides of each conform to the end line and rear edge line of the Plane. When plane they are-always used on the uppermost of the said planes.

The tips are hinged along the lines 2, these lines being at anangle to the front edge of the plane, the degree of angularity being governed by the inherent stability desired in the machine, as the greater that angle the greater will be the stability. v f

It is not-desirable to have the airplane too stable as that decreases its maneuverability and makes'it practically a fair weather ma chine only. An angle of fifteen to twenty degreesis-desirable for general-use as it gives a high degreeofboth stability and responsiveness. Yi 1 a 1 Each tip 1 is provided with a horn 3 on each surfaceito which the control wires 5 are attached, these wires must extend at right angles to'the hinge line 2. r I As is usual in present-day airplanes, I ma- A nipulate the controls by means of a foot-bar 6 andstickZ, the former serving to move both tips in the same direction simultaneously, and

the latter when moved from side to side movtip manipulating mechanism; the jointl3 by' which 12 is so connectedto 7 as to allow forward and back movement of the stick must have its pivotal center accurately inthe' same line as the pivotal center of the shaft let.

LHowever, this construction is well known in present day airplanes. p The foot board 6 is mounted upon a shaft 4 which carriesupo-n its lower end the bevel gear 16, which meshes with gear 17 which is keyed upon shaft 18.

The shaft 18 carries on eachend a spider,

on each arm 19 of which is mounted a planetary toothed gear 20, as shown in Fig.

Engaged by each' of the toothed gears 20 is a sunpinion 21 on a shaft 22 upon which is keyedbevel gear 23 which engagesa bevel gear'24- mounted on a shaft 25 whichis'preferably not'at right" angles toshaft 22 but diagonal thereto and carries the arm 26"to which" are secured the tip control wires 5 and '27. These wires pass through pulleys properly placedto insure perfect freedom of operation of the said wires. w The casing 28 has an internal gear 29 meshed with gears 20 and an external gear stick toward hisright, gear 31 will be given a clockwise rotation as seen from the seat. This will cause the casing 28'on the operators right to "rotate in a clockwise direction, that on his left in a counter-clockwise sense as viewed from th'eleft hand endof'thefmeehanism, and thus the tips will be moved in opposite directions. The ressure of" the air against that tip which is depressed below the plane will exert a lifting force. on'th'at'end of the plane, while the one on the other end of the plane will be raised abovethe plane and. the air pressure will tend to force it down and will also cause a drag on it and consequently the machine willbank'and turn.

efiects of the ailerons in turning, as pointed out above,is eliminated.

It isthus apparent that I have devised a mechanism "for steering an airplane without a rudder. Model machines thus equipped show exceptionally highresponsiveness when too much inherent stability is not built into them as set forth above.

To steer the plane when running on the 3 ground to take off I provide a brake for each wheel, a means in use and well knownin the art. p r p p The term tend of the plane as used in this specificationandthe claims hereto appended is not employed in a narrow sense as applying only to the-terminal bounding portions of the plane but'broadlyto designate an area, I

adjacent to the. longitudinal extremities thereof as-well as thesaid boundary portions;

I claim: I 1. An airplane control operating mechanism comprising in combination, a manuallyoperated member,a shaft rotatable by said member, a gear wheel 'on-said shaft,'a casing provideclwitli internal and'external series of gear teeth, the said external series meshing withthe gearon the shaft aforesaid, a second shaft upon which the said casing ismutually rotatable, gears mounted upon the endsof said'second shaft and engaging the internal gearing of said casing, jack shafts each of which bears a gear engaged byth'e gears upon the said second shaft and another gear'upon each of said jack shafts,the last named gears engaging other gearswmchaauate arms, the said arms being operatively "connected to movable parts :of the airplane r 2 A control'operating mechanism asset 1 forth in claiml having a gear mounted upon the'intermediate portion of-said second shaft, 2 "another gearengaging thesai'd gear onsaid shaft,the second of said gears beingOperatively" connected to means" actuated by the feet of the operator.

The preferred manipulation forturning is, as follows; H

I The stick 7 .ismoved in theproper lateral direction toraise above th'eiline offlight the tip onthe' side toward which it is [desired to turn whichalso depresses the other tipbelow the line of flight; the foot vbar 6 is "then pu'shedto bring up into the lineioffligh't the tip which was depressed andat the-same time raise the other-tip still higher. The'air pressure cathe-raisedtipwnl farce thatead of "seaplane down 'an-d bank' the machine, while at the-same time the drag on that tip waileempieeethemm. Tha aeunaearat1e Miro MORRILL. V 

